Betasso Addition and Veloswap

23102010

grizzly adams

During Thursday’s lunch ride, we ventured onto some new, and very welcome, new singletrack at Betasso. The trail was quite nicely buffed and well built. Finely constructed retaining walls, a cool faux-steel bridge, rolling and moderately graded. Stuart and I cruised along enjoying the fresh tracks when we suddenly ran right smack into Grizzly Adams. Or a guy who looked like a younger version of Grizzly Adams. He was sitting in the middle of the trail happily munching on his lunch. The army green shirt and the collection of digging tools and hardware strewn about clued us in to what he was doing there. As we pulled up, he grinned.

I wasn’t sure how to handle being caught with our hand in the cookie jar, but Stuart didn’t miss a step.

“Hi”

“Hi”

“So, uh, the new trail is really nice.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Are you with the Parks and Rec?”

“Yep.”

The conversation went on like this with us asking about the trail, and him answering politely and succinctly. He didn’t have to come out and say that the trail was closed. We all pretty much knew it. He didn’t have to come out and say it because his boss from down the way said it for him, “Tell ’em it ain’t open to the public yet!”

He grinned. We said so long and turned our bikes around. We made our way back to the turn-off feeling a mix of joy that we had found a cherished piece of heaven, and embarrassment for having been caught enjoying it. An unnamed source has been on it recently and has a GPS map of it. I will include that map when the trail is officially open.Claire and I hauled our gear down to Denver to set up for Veloswap today. We are sharing a huge area with Kickstand magazine. They have a luxurious lounge area with a big flat screen TV, cushy lounge chairs, a pool, and music. Sprinkled around this swanky oasis will be an A-list group of cycling phenoms. Green Guru, Nutcase, B Cycle, and then there’s us. Claire and Hannah will be rockin’ the Alchemist booth with killer deals on shirts and socks. Gotta blow out the Bike Share shirts before the November 3 election, after which the shirts will be obsolete. Too bad Dan Maes couldn’t figure out a way to be a stronger candidate. He’s more of an after thought now.

If you are going to Veloswap, check us out. We may have tailpipe-banger guy make an appearance.